FEARNET: ALEX MERAZ ON BELLA’S SLAP AND MORE

Jen Yamato at Fearnet has an exclusive interview with New Moon’s Alex Meraz. Alex talks about that famous slap Bella gives him and more. Read more below:

You stand out among the Wolf Pack because of your scene with Bella – the slap heard ‘round the world, so to speak. Tell me how that scene went down.

Alex Meraz: It was exciting. Even just in the casting of it, I just really liked Paul. What happened with the casting process is, we sent in our information and through that they were going to break it down. I sent it in and started reading New Moon while I was waiting and I really liked Paul because of that scene, and I really like bad boys and he’s kind of the bad boy of the Wolf Pack. I got the chance to audition and I got that role, saw the script and was blown away by it. I knew it was the first transformation you were going to see in the movie, and it’s definitely a scene that stands out. There was pressure to make sure it looked good, but I knew I was in good hands – Chris Weitz is just an amazing director, and Phil Tippett who did the special effects was going to make me look awesome. So it was fun.

What scene did you perform in your audition?

They gave us stuff from the book that wasn’t even in the script – there’s a kitchen scene at Emily’s when we figure out that it’s Victoria killing people on the reservation, and that’s when we set up a game plan. It was that scene.

You and Kristen have a very adversarial encounter in the slap scene. Do you think that Paul really wants to kill her in that moment?

Yes, definitely! He’s compulsive, you know. He kind of goes with the flow, but he’s volatile, but not in a “I like to hurt people” way; he’s very proud. He has a thick sense of pride, and he really wants to protect the reservation and she’s bringing nothing but trouble. So in that scene, I’m thinking in my head, “Do something to make me change, so I can kill you.” Just do something, because I’m itching to kill her. She’s a nuisance, a problem. That was that way I did it in the scene, and of course she hits me, and that’s enough to change me.

Did you and Kristen rehearse that a lot beforehand?

Not at all. We did one rehearsal the day of, said our lines, and we were good! The next day, we shot it and experimented – one time I tried grabbing her throat, which she was not fond of – and we played around with it, the director gave us good stuff to do, and it was what it was.

Did Kristen really hit you in the face?

She started finding a home for that fist on my face. It was getting really close.

(Thanks miniJazz!)

Read the entire interview here.